ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: Some one thousand handicapped Bolivians marched into La Paz on Thursday (February 23) demanding a higher monthly stipend from the government.
The protesters, many of them in wheelchairs and on crutches, began their march November 15 in the eastern city of Trinidad and have covered some 1,087 miles.
The marchers, the majority of whom receive 1000 bolivianos ($145) a month, are demanding the same 4800 bolivianos ($695) monthly stipend the government gives to the blind.
The protesters also claim that President Evo Morales has failed to comply with a 2006 law that diverted funds from political parties and citizen organizations to the disabled.
The law reportedly rerouted some six million dollars annually to the disabled but the money never made it to them.